The saving grace for NSW used to be that Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston competed for the same position in the Queensland State of Origin side.

Now, North Queensland's Thurston and Melbourne's Cronk are halves partners for the Maroons and the Storm's win over the Cowboys at Townsville on Saturday night would have made depressing viewing for Blues coach Laurie Daley.

Five-eighth Thurston started the season with a masterclass in Gosford last week and he maintained his stratospheric standards. Halfback Cronk played even better.

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It was Cronk who laid on tries to Ryan Hinchcliffe and Will Chambers (twice) as well as scoring two himself in a fantastically entertaining 32-10 Storm win in front of 19,288 fans. The final Storm touchdown, with two minutes left, was the only one that did not involve the No.7. When Cronk tackled Thurston 20 metres from the Melbourne line with 12 minutes left, it was symbolic of an absorbing personal battle that the Storm star managed to win on points.

Storm centre Justin O'Neill suffered a suspected broken jaw but the premiers have opened the season in an unstoppable mood, clinically dispatching one of the competition favourites. Melbourne led 16-6 at the end of a free-wheeling, frenetic and skill-packed first half.

The pace shown by lock Hinchcliffe when he scored his third-minute try cannot be completely accounted for by the venue's rock-hard surface. Hinchcliffe charged on to Cronk's pass as if shot from a cannon, accelerating away from Matt Bowen's cover defence to touch down on the right side, with Cameron Smith converting for 6-0.

Thurston's magnificent 20-metre cutout pass eight minutes later released winger Antonio Winterstein, with centre Kane Linnett backing up inside to score. But after Winterstein passed, he was cleaned up by fullback Billy Slater. Despite the protests of Thurston, however, referees Gerard Sutton and Brett Suttor took no action over the late challenge.

Thurston flexed his hands as if experiencing pins and needles after a try-saving tackle on Melbourne winger Matt Duffie in the 15th minute. The club tweeted that Thurston had taken the impact on "the inside of his eye" but had been cleared by medical staff of any serious injury. Winterstein put a foot in touch at 20 minutes, resulting in a would-be try being chalked off, and eight minutes later Melbourne snatched a 12-6 lead.

Cronk's art of throwing passes so sublime that their receivers don't have a hand laid on them brought another try two minutes before half-time when centre Chambers flashed over. Storm interchange forward Siosaia Vave was booked for a crusher tackle just after half-time but Cronk soon claimed his second try.

He was backing up a scrambling movement on the right side, taking an inside pass after a restarted tackle count to plunge over.

For the next 20-plus minutes, North Queensland peppered the Melbourne line but were consistently repelled. At one point, Thurston screamed at the referees to consult the video officials but his appeal fell on deaf ears.

Finally, North Queensland managed to score through winger Ashley Graham in the 71st minute. By that time, O'Neill was off the field with his facial injury.

After playing their previous two games in Leeds and Melbourne, Craig Bellamy's men were visibly drained as the contest headed into the final 10 minutes. But they added further tries to Chambers (75 minutes) and Ryan Hoffman (78).